If you live in the Cincinnati media market, chances are you didn't see the hour-long debate among the three GOP U.S. Senate candidates Monday night.
Don't worry about it, though. If you had it would have been an hour of your life you will never get back.
Candidates Frank LaRose, Bernie Moreno, and Matt Dolan stood in a studio at Fox 8 in Cleveland and spent nearly an hour doing everything in their power to not directly answer questions from the moderators, saving their strength for hurling insults and accusations against each other.
Not exactly must-see TV.
The debate was broadcast on Nexstar-owned stations in Ohio. Cincinnati doesn't have one of those. So, if you are a Cincinnati voter interested in watching a political food fight, you had to go to one of the Nexstar station websites and tune in to the livestream.
RELATED: First Ohio Republican U.S. Senate debate puts Trump in spotlight
Here's what you would have learned:
- Bernie Moreno, the gazillionaire luxury car dealer and bitcoin entrepreneur from Cleveland, is the one who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, which he said over and over again.
- All three want to do away with birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed in the 14th amendment of the Constitution to most of those born in the U.S. or a U.S. territory.
- Two of them, Moreno and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, would be willing to shut down the government instead of voting for a continuing resolution.
- And all three — Moreno, LaRose, and State Sen. Matt Dolan of Chagrin Falls — agreed there should be a national abortion ban at about 15 weeks.
It is the abortion rights issue that may have the biggest impact on the race against Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown this fall.
With control of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance, Ohio's Senate race will likely be the most closely watched and the most costly Senate contest in the nation.
Moreno, the Trump-endorsed candidate, would support a "15 week floor with commonsense exceptions."
LaRose said Ohio has "one of the most extreme abortion laws in the country" — referring to the abortion amendment passed by voters last Novembers — and advocated a 15-week "bare minimum," which would allow states to go further in restricting abortion.
RELATED: See how each Ohio county voted on the abortion rights amendment
Dolan, who said he doesn't think it should be a federal matter, nonetheless said he would support a 15-week ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.
That federal abortion ban may fly in a GOP primary, but there's every reason to believe it will go down like a lead balloon in the general election.
It makes you question whether the three GOP candidates were paying attention last November when 57% of Ohio voters who went to the polls voted in favor of a ballot issue enshrining abortion rights in the Ohio constitution.
A lot of them were Republicans. And a lot of them were suburban women, many of whom may lean Republican but who believe in the old-fashioned GOP notion that government should stay out of people's private lives.
Moreno, LaRose, Dolan — no matter which one wins the primary — will have a hard time getting back to the center on this issue.
The low blows
There were other head-scratching moments from the debate.
One came when LaRose, after reminding people that he was once a Green Beret who served on the U.S. southern border, proposed sending three U.S. Army divisions to the border with Mexico to stop the "full-scale invasion" of people entering the country illegally.
That's anywhere from 30,000 to 45,000 troops.
"I am willing to use lethal force to protect your family," LaRose said.
Then there was Moreno fending off attacks from Dolan for the lawsuits Moreno faced in Massachusetts as the owner of a car dealership accusing him of failing to pay his employees overtime.
A judge in one of the cases admonished Moreno for destroying some overtime records.
"I don't know if you can be trusted," Dolan said to Moreno.
Moreno blamed it all on "extremist, Harvard elite judges" and shot back by saying that the Cleveland Guardians baseball team, which Dolan's family owns, has had its share of lawsuits.
"Maybe you can ask your dad how a business works," Moreno said.
ANALYSIS: Trump looks to go 2-for-2 in choosing Ohio's next U.S. senator
There wasn't much about the debate one could call amusing, but there was an exchange between LaRose and Moreno that would qualify.
LaRose was going on about how his opponents were "corporate elites" out of touch with the average Ohio family's kitchen table concerns; and how he and his family lived a "middle class life in a modest home."
"You can look at our financial reports," LaRose said. "We're not in the same league as these guys are."
Moreno butted in.
"You managed to find $250,000 laying around to loan to your campaign," Moreno said to LaRose.
This was the one and only laugh-out-loud moment of the hour.
Moreno, who has sunk $3 million of his own money into the campaign so far and is capable of doing far more, smacked around LaRose for his measly $250,000.
Irony is apparently not Bernie's strong suit.
